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Adapting to conditions was the key: Root

Debutant Joe Root said that adapting to situations as quickly as possible was the main recipe of his success.

Nagpur: Debutant Joe Root, who impressed one and all with his patient knock of 73 stated that adapting to situations as quickly as possible was the main recipe of his success against India in the fourth cricket Test. "I was trying to understand and adapt to the situation as quickly as possible. I just tried to do that. I was thinking more about adapting than anything else," Root said at the post-match media conference.

Root's main focus was to grind it out for long hours. "More than anything else, I had to keep my footwork precise and work very hard and just grind it out. It was a very defensive field and I had to be patient and keep things as simple as possible," said the 21-year-old Yorkshire man. "I have dreamed about this opportunity for a very long time and very proud I finally got this opportunity," he added.

Root, who said he was told he was playing the crucial game only on the eve of the match, said he was definitely nervous going into his maiden Test and was pleased to score some runs for his team. "Yeah, I am obviously delighted to get the opportunity and score a few runs. It won't be wrong to say that (was nervous) when you go in to bat in Test cricket for the first time, but you have a great team around you and I was very relaxed when I went into bat out there in the middle," he said.

Root lavished praise on his senior teammate James Anderson, who got the trio of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar. "Jimmy bowled fantastically. Great stuff. He has bowled fantastically well throughout the series. Big day tomorrow morning and hopefully we can keep bowling well. We are in a very good position now, so hopefully, we can come tomorrow and do more damage in the morning," he said.